Levels

[Wigglebummunch]

We've recently had school reports and parents evening.

DS age 7 (July baby) year 3 got 3c in maths and 2a for reading and literacy. I was also told DS is on the G&T list for literacy.

So these levels, are they based on sats? Do they do sats every year?

The report said they should be within level 4 by the end of year 6.

DS1 (year 4) also got a 3C for maths so does that mean he is behind? He is a 3a for reading and literacy.

So I'm guessing it goes from c to a ? Their last school didn't tell us these levels so I'm confused.

They sound like NC levels which do indeed go from C to A. However they are actually obsolete following the introduction of the new curriculum in September 2014 so you may well need to ask the school how they are using them.

In "old money" I'd say they are both bang on being within the expected range for this stage of their year group.

Wiggle:

If your school is using old style NC Level system Mumsnet has a nice explanation of progress through levels here which should help clarify things:

www.mumsnet.com/learning/assessment/progress-through-national-curriculum-levels - see tables at bottom especially.

There's been a lot of discussion here about changing levels and basically schools are free to make up their own system - old Nc Levels/ unicorns & rainbows/ you name it.

A new SATs/ GCSE/ A Level system is coming in scoring on 1 - 9 - and it isn't clear yet whether this is joined up or not all the way through. My hope is it will be - as descriptors which parents can progressively track through the system would make things a little clearer. Meanwhile current proposed GCSE for maths is under review due to so much complaint about its standards (or lack thereof). All rather a mess - and many schools here in Birmingham are gambling it's all going to change again if government changes so aren't particularly invested in any of this and prefer to stick to same old systems then spend money on new programmes/ training only to have to reinvest 5 minutes later.

HTH